T08 - HCI International 2011

9-14 July 2011, Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, Orlando, Florida, USA

T08: Cross-Cultural HCI /User-Experience Development

Full Day Tutorial

Aaron Marcus (short bio)
President, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc., Berkeley, California, USA

Objectives:

Participants will learn new terms and concepts to understand culture, dimensions of culture (e.g., power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and time orientation), and how these example dimensions relate to the design of user-interface components (metaphors, mental models, navigation, interaction, and appearance). We shall introduce additional culture dimensions, models, and dimensions (e.g., persuasion, trust, intelligence, cognition) that must be considered. We shall examine practical trade-offs in several multi-national companies' Web efforts, best-of-breed set of culture dimensions derived from expert opinions, how mobile devices from Asia and the USA exhibit culture differences, examples of culture differences and similarities of Web 2.0 and social networking Websites. Paper and pen exercises will provide experience in how to apply principles to practical challenges.

Content and Benefits:

Content:
Terminology of globalization, localization, and culture Visual examples of culture differences/similarities Culture theories, models, and dimensions Implications for user-interface design based on culture dimensions Use of culture models to predict behavior in usability inquiries Relation of culture to ethnography, usability, and testing Case study: Culture influence in corporate Web design standards Case study: culture-influenced PDA UI design for China Trends: Culture influence in mobile devices products/services for Asia/USA Best-of-breed culture dimension set Trends in Web 2.0 applications emphasizing social networks Where to learn more about culture theory and practice

Benefits:
Participants will learn about and practice using culture models and specific culture dimensions to design and evaluate human-computer user interfaces (HCIs/UIs). Examples will come from primarily from the Web and mobile devices, but the insights will be useful for all platforms, technologies, content, vertical markets, and user communities.

Target Audience:

Target audiences for the tutorial include professionals from software and hardware engineering, HCI/CHI/UI/UX designers and analysts/evaluators, visual/interaction designers, usability professionals, cognitive scientists, globalization/localization experts, ethnographers/anthropolotists, marketing personnel, and business managers who may know relatively little about the subject of culture models and their use in design and evaluation.

Biography:

Aaron Marcus has 44 years of experience in user-interface design and evaluation. He has published six books and more than 250 articles and has lectured/tutored worldwide since 1980. He has published and lectured about culture and user-interface design worldwide since 1993. He has led his firm for 29 years and has received many awards, includng being named a Fellow of the AIGA and a member of the CHI Academy. Recentlly, AM+A conducted a culture audit (images, text, concepts) of software prior to translation into another language, writing system, and culture, and conducted an analysis of the relationship of country culture to international corporate office culture in order to improve collaboration, cooperation, and communication.
Link to Long Biography

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HCI International 2011